Archive for the ‘Buick Club of America’ tag

More radical concept and dream cars would come along with exotic drivetrains, impossible bubbletops, technology out of sci-fi comic books, and outer-space styling, but few showed a more precise vision of the immediate future than the 1953 Buick Wildcat dream car. While that future has long since passed, the Wildcat remains around today and will go on display at next year’s Buick Nationals.

Perhaps because it was designed and built under the supervision of Buick chief engineer designer Ned Nickles and not under the supervision of an advanced styling studio, the two-seater Wildcat – which Buick introduced at the inaugural 1953 Motorama show at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City alongside the Chevrolet Corvette, Pontiac Parisienne, Oldsmobile Starfire X-P Rocket, and Cadillac Le Mans – showcased a little more restraint in its styling. Its wraparound windshield had already seen limited production on the Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Fiesta; its proto-tailfins hardly rose any higher than those introduced by Cadillac four years prior; its 188hp 322-cu.in. V-8 was new for 1953, but no more powerful than that in the production Buick Skylark; and its general styling would go on to appear on 1954 Buicks.

The big advancement on the Wildcat – the one that Buick made so much ado about in its press materials and Motorama brochures – was its fiberglass body, but even that was shared with the Corvette and Starfire X-P. Buick noted that the use of fiberglass shortened the amount of time it took for a car design to progress from sketch to production and “afford(ed) an opportunity to ‘pre-test’ the motorists’ reaction to various styling features.” Indeed, as David W. Temple wrote in his book GM’s Motorama, styling studios were just beginning to make use of fiberglass at about that time, and Chevrolet executives had intended to put the Corvette into production with a steel body until the demand created by showing it at the Motorama led them to scratch that next step and go ahead with a fiberglass body.

And perhaps because the concept seemed so grounded, not only did Buick appear to build two Wildcats, executives in Lansing Flint also considered putting the Wildcat into production. The first Wildcat – which debuted at the Waldorf-Astoria painted black, but then appeared a month later in Miami and thereafter painted white – used covered rear wheels and a convertible top that disappeared under a hinged lid behind the seats; but photos of a second white-painted Wildcat show it with a hardtop and Skylark-style rear wheel openings. Then, as Temple noted, Motor Trend reported that – after the Corvette, which had already been slated for production before the Motorama – the Wildcat would be the next 1953 Motorama car to reach production, though bodied in steel. One can only presume that, when it came to halo cars, the Skylark sufficed for Buick customers and executives.

Buick would follow up the Wildcat with the Wildcat II and Wildcat III show cars (leading many to refer to the original as the Wildcat I) and, according to collector Joe Bortz, put the 1953 Wildcat out to pasture by either selling or giving it to one of the designers who worked on it. That designer then sold it to a collector in Detroit, “who never did anything with it,” Bortz said. “It was very rough. The windshield was off the car and twisted like a pretzel, and it was all apart.”

Still, almost everything unique to the car – including the heavily chromed, porcelainized, and smoothed V-8 engine, its original interior, and much of its trim- remained with it, so Bortz bought it in about 1985 or 1986 and commissioned a full restoration, which wrapped up later in the 1980s.

As for the second Wildcat, Bortz noted that one theory holds that Buick only made one Wildcat and that the open-wheel hardtop version preceded the closed-wheel convertible version. However, he said that during the restoration he never saw any evidence that the skirted area over the rear wheels wasn’t original to his car. In addition, while he only had one of the two Roto-Static stationary hubcaps unique to the Wildcats when the restoration on his began (he had a second replicated), several years later another enthusiast approached him with a matching pair of Roto-Static hubcaps, reportedly found in the 1960s in a Detroit-area junkyard.

Since restoring the Wildcat I, Bortz has showed it at a number of events, including the 2008 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the 2010 Meadow Brook Concours d’Elegance and the 2013 Geneva Concours d’Elegance. Next year, he plans to show it once more at the 2015 Buick Club of America National Meet, which will take place June 10-14 at the Ramada Plaza Hotel in Springfield, Missouri. For more information on the BCA National Meet, visit BuickClub.org.

In addition, Bortz said that he will display his two Motorama La Salles and the Brooks Stevens-designed Valkyrie at the Cadillac and LaSalle Club’s Grand National, which is scheduled to take place June 24-27 in Brookfield, Wisconsin. For more information on the CLC Grand National, visit CadillacLaSalleClub.org.

Terry B. Dunham, perhaps best known among many collector car enthusiasts for his highly regarded book The Buick: A Complete History, which he co-authored with Lawrence R. Gustin, recently died at the age of 72. What many may not realize was that his contributions to the Buick community, and to General Motors, was far more substantial.

Born on June 22, 1940, in Howell, Michigan, Dunham graduated from Western Michigan University in 1963 with a major in automotive engineering technology. That same year he began his employment in the sales and service operations of General Motors’ Pontiac Motor Division, even though he’d had a deep fondness for Buicks since the late Fifties. Having already begun to amass a collection of Buick material, Dunham became an active member of the Buick Club of America when it was founded in 1966 (later serving as president of the club’s Northern California chapter). Also at this time – and still employed by GM – he began conducting interviews with active and retired engineers, designers, executives, dealers and others who had a role in Buick’s history, recording each narrative on tape that would later serve as a valuable resource.

Dunham, along with his wife, Jeanne, helped organize the first BCA National Meet in Flint in 1971, where he would meet Lawrence Gustin. They quickly become good friends, and just four years later, Dunham proposed an in-depth Buick history book to Automobile Quarterly. Their combined effort resulted in the award-winning 1980 release of The Buick: A Complete History. Now regarded as the division’s definitive history, it has since been updated no less than five times, the last reprint occurring in time for Buick’s 100th anniversary in 2003. Other literary works include Cobwebs and Overhead Valves – an in-depth look at the often misunderstood work surrounding David Buick’s first overhead valve engines – and a look back at Buick’s once-proud early racing exploits called Something Wicked This Way Comes: The Buick Race Cars From Hell.

In 1992, Dunham retired from General Motors and went to work for Detroit-based Engineering Analysis, managing product liability investigations for General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler Corporation. In 1996, Dunham was elected as the BCA’s vice president; he was also asked by Buick executives to return to Flint the same year. The division had just announced it was moving to Detroit and they needed Dunham’s help locating and identifying historical documents stored throughout the sprawling Flint facility. Within three years and numerous round trips, Dunham, who was now living in Florida, secured thousands of documents that were then transferred to the Buick Gallery and Research Center at Flint’s Sloan Museum. He later founded Automotive Research Service after developing a data base of Buick production and manufacturing information which any Buick owner could use to obtain more specific details about their car.

Dunham did not curtail his activities with the new millennium. In 2005, he was instrumental in the creation of the Buick Heritage Alliance and its website, serving on its board for several years. A charitable and educational organization, the BHA continuously seeks out and preserves Buick literature, manuals and other documents in order to provide online information for restorers, researchers and historians. A year later, the Buick Motor Company bestowed Dunham with the division’s highest honor, the Buick Heritage Trophy, for his efforts in preserving and promoting Buick’s heritage.

Since his death last month, the AACA, in honor of Dunham, created the Buick Heritage Alliance Award, which will be presented to the owner of an outstanding 1921-1942 Buick entered in an AACA national meet. According to Jeffrey R. Brashares, president of the BHA who worked closely with Dunham in its founding, the award was donated by the BHA “to honor its board member and former president, Terry B. Dunham, for his untiring devotion to the Alliance’s educational and charitable mission, and his lifelong contributions to the preservation of Buick’s history.”

Welcome to the month of June. For collector-car owners, it’s a time to rejoice. All traces of winter are but a distant memory. There’s been enough rain to wash away the road salt. And with the sun setting on the western horizon later, there’s more time for all of us to enjoy those beautiful collector cars. Which means the car show season is kicking into high gear. We’ve quickly scanned the event calendar and made notes on a few of the biggies in just a matter of seconds; they are either shows we’ve attended in the past, possibly plan on attending this year, or a combination of the two.

In order of appearance, we’ll start with Bloomington Gold, held at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Illinois, June 21-24, perhaps one of the biggest and most respected Corvette gatherings in the United States. Two of its highlights are the Survivor judging (pictured above) and the Mecum auction. This is the final year for the event in St. Charles – Bloomington Gold will be moving to Champaign, Illinois, next year.

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, is never still very long; it jumps back to life – in terms of collectible automobiles – from June 22-24 when Carlisle Events opens their fairground gates to the All-GM Nationals. True, it’s been dominated by the Camaro, but there’s been a healthy showing from GM brands across the board in both stock and modified guises. As is typical of all Carlisle events throughout the summer months, there’s plenty to see and do other than the car show itself.

The Buick Club of America rolls into NASCAR Country June 27-30 for their annual National meet. This year’s site is Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, just a short drive from downtown Charlotte. Hosted by the Carolina Chapter, the four-day affair has several tours planned (including the self-guided variety to area NASCAR race shops) as well as an indoor and outdoor swap meet. The host hotel is less than three miles from the famed 1.50-mile, high-banked speedway.

The Mopar faithful turn their Pentastars towards Carlisle on July 6-8 for the All-Chrysler Nationals. We’ve had the pleasure of attending this event several times in recent years, and it’s always appeared to us to be one big family party on wheels. If you haven’t been yet, it’s worth the trip.

Also on July 6-7 is the 30th Classic Auto Show and Cruise-In at the Ohio Metro Center in Dublin, Ohio. The weekend’s festivities – a cruise-in on Friday and a car show on Saturday – benefits the Arthritis Foundation of Central Ohio. If you’re going to be near the area, organizers have a lot in store for attendees.

There’s a two-in-one chance to catch up with some of the legends of drag racing – both the cars and the stars who drove them – from July 13-15. The York Expo Center in York, Pennsylvania, is once again the site of the 11th annual York Reunion and Musclecar Madness show; celebrating the glory years of the York U.S. 30 dragstrip. This portion of the event is actually held on July 13-14, at which point most attendees head north to Beaver Springs for the 9th Annual Nostalgia Nationals portion of the show. Drag racing at this 1/4-mile runs from July 14-15.

Each year, Hagerty Insurance releases their annual “Hot List,” consisting of vehicles manufactured today that are projected to become collectible classics in the future. To qualify for consideration, the parameters are rather simple: mass-market production with a sticker price below $100,000. Making the grade this year is the 2012 Buick Regal GS.

For those who have not looked at anything from the Flint automaker for some time, the new sport sedan tapped into the company’s performance past by reintroducing two obvious and widely recognized badges: Regal and GS. What’s more, the Buick offers a real, three-pedal (manual transmission) configuration – care to guess when a Buick owner could last exercise some spirited heel/toe shifting?

According to General Motors North America President Mark Reuss,

The Regal GS is a unique and thrilling vehicle for the Buick brand. As someone who drove a classic Skylark to the prom and owned other incredible Buicks like an ’87 GNX, I can say it deserves to be viewed among the best Buick has built.

This new performance spark could be just the thing to help further revitalize the Buick brand as a whole, and help lower the automaker’s average purchase age. The new Regal GS could have ramifications beyond the showroom floor and boardroom sales charts.

In recent years, the Buick Club of America has seen a decline in membership. While there is some debate as to the reason, Jeffrey Brashares – president of the Buick Heritage Alliance – sees a silver lining in Hagerty’s announcement.

When the “mock-up” of the Tiger Woods convertible came out from Buick, I thought it would have been a cool car to build. They didn’t. They were very late into the 4 x 4 production and lost sales to all other automakers, and, of course Ford led the pack. Clubs like Porsche continue to grow, because their cars appeal to all ages. Our club, the Buick Club of America, continues to decline. I am excited to see a performance sedan being built that has the “opportunity” to appeal to a younger audience, so I like the list!

Next year’s big national meet of the Buick Club of America will be held just north of Boston, in the quaint town of Danvers, Massachusetts. With some 400-plus classic Buicks set to take over New England, there will be lots of organized tours to take in the many interesting sights of this historical region, plus there will be the club’s swap meet, seminars and concours. The action takes place July 6-9. For more details contact the BCA at www.buickclub.org

Several of you may recall my earlier posts from the Buick Club’s national meet up in Flint, Michigan earlier in the year. Other than the BCA meet, I also stopped in to see what was happening at the Early Ford V-8 Meet in Dearborn, and then eventually made it to the Model T Centennial in Richmond, Indiana (recently featured in the December 2008 issue of Hemmings Classic Car). Collectively, I spent 10 days on the road, three of which were in Evansville, Indiana. Nice town, sits right on the Ohio River. They have a small zoo and a riverboat casino; also small when compared to others. But I wasn’t in town for the entertainment. There were cars to be photographed.

Having earlier made arrangements with resident Don Goebel (and owner of a 1970 Boss 302 Mustang), he invited a bunch of fellow gearheads to meet me upon my arrival. One of those in attendance was Steve Honnell. I already had the pleasure of meeting Steve down at the Charlotte Auto Fair earlier, along with two of his vehicles, but the weather failed to cooperate with our schedules at that time. Why I even bother mentioning this is because Steve drove from his home in not so nearby Tennessee to Evansville, with two of his cars in tow, which enabled us to accomplish what we could not do back in April.

In the foreground is Steve’s 1964 Ford Thunderbolt – he is the original owner of this car, and did in fact race it back in the day. He even brought along the original battery that looked to weigh in at one metric ton. Steve’s loading up his 1970 Ford King Cobra, one of three prototypes constructed; further details will eventually be appearing in Hemmings Muscle Machines. I might add that, as the sun set here, Steve faced a four-hour drive home.

And for you baseball fans, some of you might recall the building in the background. That’s Bosse Field, current home of the Evansville Otters; they’re a part of the Frontier League. What makes Bosse special – aside from it’s June 17, 1915, opening day – is that only two other currently operating ball parks in the nation are older: Fenway Park in Boston (1912) and Wrigley Field in Chicago (1914). This field was also used in the Hollywood film “A League of Their Own.”

I recently returned from a 10-day excursion through Indiana that started in Michigan, where I was fortunate enough to attend the Buick Club of America‘s national meet, which was to coincide with the 100th anniversary of GM. Modern technology in hand – that being my new laptop computer – my intent was to send along tasty (or not so) tidbits of what my camera’s eye ran across; I also attended the Early Ford V-8 meet in nearby Dearborn, and capped things off with a visit to the Model T party in Richmond, Indiana.

Well, the laptop did not feel like talking to the company server. My continued efforts, and helpful tech support by Strohl, failed to achieve a proper connection, and thus these “reports” are simply being posted late.

I can tell you that two things stood out right off the bat at the BCA meet, the first of which is this Invicta prototype recently unveiled overseas in China. If you have not seen any new car reports in recent months, the rebirth of this tri-shield badge is reportedly a hint at things to come of the new GM platform. The concept came from GM designers in China. By the way, for those Buick enthusiasts who were stumbling around the Buick Heritage Alliance tent where this car was located throughout the event, it is pronounced “in-vik-ta,” not “in-vis-tia,” as I heard on more than one occasion.

On occasion, I’ve heard more than a few ask why Buick had not built a truck. They did, in fact, for a short period of time starting in 1910. No doubt some of you have seen this example of Buick’s 1918 Model E-4 Light Delivery – also at the BHA display. It was built only this single model year, and while costing nearly $800, only 2,410 were constructed.

But in true “what if” styling, Dave Decker, of Cheektowaga, New York, happily displayed this heavily modified 1955 Model 46R – better known as the Special Riviera coupe (hardtop).

Of course, the Special only had three VentiPorts, however a fourth makes it that much better in appearance, as does the stepside bed, recessed taillamps and custom tailgate, while retaining the traditional “sweapspear” side trim.

Topping things off was a nicely detailed V-8 complete with a silver-coated Star Wars air cleaner. Purists, naturally, had the tendency to bypass the creative display. I, on the other hand, rather enjoyed its presence on the show field!

Mars, Pennsylvania that is! The Pittsburgh Portholes, a very active chapter of the Buick Club of America, is planning this exciting driving tour to some very interesting sites throughout Western Pennsylvania.

From August 30 through September 1, all sorts of pre- and post-war Buicks will be cruising through the countryside visiting such historical sites as Drake’s Oil Well, an underground coal mine, a steel baron’s mansion and several appealing car collections.

This isn’t a car show, just three fun-filled days of leisurely driving your Buick along with other Buick owners and their cars. For more information, contact Randy Hall at 724-443-4782, rhallsy@connecttime.net.

(This post originally appeared in the April 24, 2008, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)

The Buick Club of America will be honoring the 100th anniversary of GM in Flint, Michigan, July 16-20. Pictured above is the radiator of a 1911 Buick

The Buick Club of America will be honoring the 100th anniversary of General Motors when they hold their 2008 national convention in their namesake’s hometown of Flint, Michigan.

This big, all-Buick spectacular will take place on July 16-20. To spice things up a bit, Kettering University Archives and Library will host a historic home tour of five of the more prominent houses in the area owned by GM executives.

So get back in the garage and finish up that Buick restoration if you want your car to be a part of this significant and historic meet. For more information, visit the BCA Web site: www.buickclub.org.

(This post originally appeared in the December 13, 2007, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)

The Buick Club of America just announced that its 2007 national meet will be held in Bellevue, Washington.
Hosted by the North Cascade Chapter of the BCA, there will be lots to see and do in the region, including the huge LeMay collector car museum just 25 miles south in Tacoma, as well as the Museum of Flight, Bellevue Doll Museum and the Klondike Gold Museum—not to mention downtown Seattle which is right next door.
The host hotel will be the four-star Hilton Hotel in Bellevue. The date is July 26-29. For more information visit the club’s Web site: www.nwbuicknational.com

(This post originally appeared in the August 17, 2006, issue of the Hemmings eWeekly Newsletter.)